diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index e910fd5..1ab64a4 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -27,3 +27,4 @@ m4/lt~obsolete.m4
 src/adplay
 src/config.h*
 src/.libs/
+*.exe
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 65ef204..66c1ecb 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -196,6 +196,9 @@ if test ${enable_output_sdl:=yes} = yes; then
      )
      AC_LANG_POP(C)
    fi
+  dnl strip away options that would turn our application from console to a windows GUI application
+  SDL_CFLAGS=`echo $SDL_CFLAGS |sed -e 's/-Dmain=SDL_main//g'`
+  SDL_LIBS=`echo $SDL_LIBS | sed -e 's/-mwindows/-mconsole/g' -e 's/-lSDLmain//g' -e 's/-lSDL2main//g'`
 fi
 
 # ALSA output
diff --git a/src/getopt.h b/src/getopt.h
index b0147e9..78fc285 100644
--- a/src/getopt.h
+++ b/src/getopt.h
@@ -27,6 +27,10 @@
 extern "C" {
 #endif
 
+// in mingw, __argc and __argv are special
+#undef __argc
+#undef __argv
+
 /* For communication from `getopt' to the caller.
    When `getopt' finds an option that takes an argument,
    the argument value is returned here.
diff --git a/src/sdl.cc b/src/sdl.cc
index 16881c3..2935496 100644
--- a/src/sdl.cc
+++ b/src/sdl.cc
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
  * Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.  
  */
 
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 
 #include "sdl_driver.h"
diff --git a/src/sdl_driver.h b/src/sdl_driver.h
index 7934408..e4fa0fb 100644
--- a/src/sdl_driver.h
+++ b/src/sdl_driver.h
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@
 #ifndef H_SDL
 #define H_SDL
 
+#define SDL_MAIN_HANDLED 1
+
 #include <SDL.h>
 
 #include "output.h"